Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Ikea Experience

During our trip to Minneapolis, Ryan and I were able to take a trip to Ikea. As you already know, the Austad's are quite good to sticking to a budget and using thrifty ideas to spruce up their home- Ikea was bound to be the place for us. We were more than excited to make a trip to Ikea to find anything and everything we needed for our house. Our inaugural glimpse was intense and confusing, not to mention crazy with Saturday shoppers. Our 1st mistake was taking the escalator all the way to the top floor to the showroom. I think we were expecting more of a target vibe where you walk around and grab what you need. But we were herded like cattle around the twists and turns of each kitchen, bedroom and living space imaginable.

After dodging strollers and looking for exit signs, we noticed there was a floor below us that looked quite different than the showroom. The Marketplace! That's exactly what we were looking for all along! Aisles of goodies lined the display room and Ryan knew that he was in for it as we made our way into the first space. After a good 30 minutes of browsing through items, we were ready to make our purchases. Knowing that we couldn't cram the Elantra too full with stuff for our 6 hour drive home, we were good about getting things that were space friendly. Except for one lovely picture. Ryan had spotted a black and white New York skyline picture that would look perfect with our basement decor. As we scanned the picture and took our bag of goodies out to the car, we were jumping up and down with excitement. ....until the picture didn't fit into the car. Note to self- next time we visit Ikea, bring a bigger vehicle.

After returning the picture (a very sad moment for us) we reminded ourselves that we had still purchased some really great items. Linen curtains for our master bedroom, glass votive candle holders, an assorted pack of yummy votive candles to go in the holders, and a much needed kitchen drawer organizer. After finding the marketplace, I have a feeling we'll be back to Ikea very soon.